BACKGROUND: At birth, infants' lungs are fluid-filled. For newborns to have a successful transition, this fluid must be replaced by air to enable effective breathing. Some infants are judged to have inadequate breathing at birth and are resuscitated with positive pressure ventilation (PPV). Giving prolonged (sustained) inflations at the start of PPV may help clear lung fluid and establish gas volume within the lungs. OBJECTIVES: To assess the efficacy of an initial sustained (> 1 second duration) lung inflation versus standard inflations (≤ 1 second) in newly born infants receiving resuscitation with intermittent PPV...

To identify antecedent clinical and health services events in infants (>/=35 weeks gestational age (GA)) who were discharged as healthy from their place of birth and subsequently sustained kernicterus. We conducted a root-cause analysis of a convenience sample of 125 infants >/=35 weeks GA cared for in US healthcare facilities (including off-shore US military bases). These cases were voluntarily reported to the Pilot USA Kernicterus Registry (1992 to 2004) and met the eligibility criteria of acute bilirubin encephalopathy (ABE) and/or post-icteric sequelae...

PURPOSE: To evaluate short-term outcomes associated with discordant twin pairs admitted to the NICU. DESIGN: A retrospective descriptive study comparing discordant twin pairs. SUBJECTS: Three hundred eighty-four discordant twin pairs were included. Mean gestational age of the twin pairs was 32.6 weeks (range, 24-39). METHODS: The ParadigmHealth database was queried for all twin admissions from January 2001 to June 2004 admitted to 453 NICUs across the United States...